[GIS] Convert Date Field to String Field Arcpy

arcpyexpression

I have a Date field in an ArcGIS file geodatabase feature class called "DateTemp1." I created a new text field called "DateTemp2" and want to calculate that based on the DateTemp1 field, but I am getting a unicode error.

TypeError: descriptor 'strftime' requires a 'datetime.date' object but received a 'unicode'

 arcpy.CalculateField_management("all_reports.gdb/lsr_reports1", "DateTemp2", "datetime.datetime.strftime(!DateTemp1!, '%Y%m%d')", "PYTHON_9.3", "")

Best Answer

I looked into using the Convert Time Field tool as the poster suggested and it worked.

inTable  = "all_reports.gdb/lsr_reports1"
inputTimeField = "DateTemp1"
inputTimeFormat ="dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss;AM;PM"
outputDateField = "DateTemp2"
arcpy.ConvertTimeField_management(inTable, inputTimeField, inputTimeFormat, outputDateField)

Related Solutions

ArcPy – Converting ArcGIS Date Value to String in mm/dd/yyyy Format

GP cursors read date values as datetime objects, so you can use datetime.strftime() to format it as you like, or datetime.ctime() to format it as the default format (%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y).

Here's an example using mm/dd/yyyy:

import arcpy
from datetime import datetime
fc = r"C:\GISData\test.gdb\atlantic_hurricanes_2000"
rows = arcpy.SearchCursor(fc)
for row in rows:
    datetimeVal = row.getValue("Date_Time")
    formattedTime = datetime.strftime(datetimeVal, "%m/%d/%Y")
    print formattedTime

For the meanings of the various time formatting codes see strftime behavior.

[GIS] Calculate Date field in ArcPy

You just don't quite have the quotes right in your expression.You need double quotes around your datetime. Also, you shouldn't have !DateTime! = as part of it.

Try:

arcpy.CalculateField_management(out_path_shp, "DateTime", 
                                '"' + date_time + '"', 
                                "PYTHON_9.3")

Best Answer

Related Solutions

ArcPy – Converting ArcGIS Date Value to String in mm/dd/yyyy Format

[GIS] Calculate Date field in ArcPy

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